"Just in
case [we don't] we'd better have a
plan," he said. Geoengineering plans mean we try and take direct control of the climate ourselves.

I first spoke to Caldeira about geoengineering a few years
back when he published a modelling paper looking at the effectivness of spraying
tiny sulphur particles up into the atmosphere to bounce a portion of the sun's
energy back out into space.

At the time, he told me that he had been trying to
come up with a way of showing such schemes were hair-brained ideas but had
instead found they might work.

Don't jump to your sulphur hoses just yet - there's a major
catch. If we're going to do something like that we need to know for sure that
the sunshade will be maintained (it needs to be routinely "topped up") pretty
much forever. Fail to top it up and we'll be hit by a double whammy of warming as the solar
energy we've been avoiding streams down and gets trapped by the greenhouse
gasses we've kept emitting.

Ocean fertilisation is another idea that has had a lot of press. There again, there are people on both
sides of the fence. Most think that without any idea of the long-term consequences of dumping fine iron particles
into the ocean, doing this would be nuts.

That's why Caldeira was brought in to talk to the British government. He doesn't
advocate putting a sunshade up tomorrow but does think that all options need to
be researched before it's too late. A fair point. Others worry that
geoengineering will be seen as a "get out of jail free" card with the added
benefit of meaning we can keep burning fossil fuels.

And then who is going to save us from those who are trying to save the world?

Jeebus help us...

?
W G Treharne
on November 11, 2008 10:09 PM

No way are we to continue emitting greenhouse gases while we use sulphur particles to cool the atmosphere.In fact we hope to reduce those gases until we won't need to use atmospheric schemes like this.

M. Roberts
on November 12, 2008 12:56 AM

I would think one MUST establish if there is a problem in the first place. There seems to be alot of hype and controversy over "evidence". If there is any irrefutable evidence about global warming, and further that it is manmade, is there any possibility of it being the culmination of the effects of weather modification experiments and practices on large and small scales by various governments since WWII instead of blaming all on power plants and use of fossil fuels. By using "greenhouse gases" such as "dry ice", liquid propane and such besides silver iodide and salts seeding at high altitudes causing thunderhead updrafts drawing materials further upwards might negate the effects of gases created at ground level. Apparently some major experiments were done without fanfare to avoid liability issues. By causing unnatural rainfall(heat exchange) in one area would shift energy from/to another

Joe Lalonde
on November 12, 2008 2:23 AM

Since the salinity changes are already reflecting back the solar heat and cloud cover is building.
This would be a great recipe for disaster.

Hmm, CO2 and other gases have a density.
Centrifugal forces pull evaporation, gases,etc.
Density of atmosphere is building. What happens to the atmospheric pressure? It would be deminishing.
Causing more energy build-up in the atmosphere

Jacob
on November 12, 2008 8:59 AM

ok...cool the planet then heat your homes, car, workspace, etc. I'm not a scientist, but it seems like a never ending cycle...

The anonymous man
on November 14, 2008 4:31 PM

Just to mention...
1) Spreading sulphur into the atmosphere is a BAD THING. Has he ever heard of acid rain?
2) It does not matter if the globe is warming up. We need to change our act now anyway- our consumerism is not sustainable if it relies on non recyclable fuel.

Dr. James Singmaster
on November 17, 2008 8:59 PM

Emissions controls do not remove one molecule of carbon dioxide from the 35% and growing overload of that gas already causing global warming effects that include damaging corals to reduce their trapping of carbon. The simplest thing to be taking action on is stopping the needless reemitting of GHGs occurring natural in the biodegrading of the globe's massive amounts of organic wastes and sewage as presently being handled.
Why scientists ignore those sources of emissions is beyond understanding, and they do not seem to realize that those messes are loaded with germs, toxics and drugs that are escaping. USEPA just announced a conference to evaluate risks of drugs in drinking water, and US Natl Acad. of Sciences just released a report calling for major action to control pollution come out of storm drain systems. We can not continue to let those messes grow to spread polution killing the oceans and eventually our descendants.
A process called pyrolysis can be applied to those messes to destroy the hazards mentioned and to actually remove some carbon in biochemicals as inert charcoal is formed to be buried in dumps that will not require costly monitoring even after being closed. Much of the energy put in can be recovered for electricity generation, while also getting an organic distillate to refine for making drugs and other needed products.
I sent this idea of pyrolysis of those messes to several including Nobelist Dr. Paul Crutzen, who responded that it deserved critical consideration, but said that he was not qualified to do it.
Dr. J. Singmaster, Fremont, CA

anon
on November 18, 2008 2:07 PM

i am amazed the extent to which our species constantly seeks to preserve, we live on a dynamic planet,change has facilitated our own evolution. shouldn't we be thinking about adapting to change, mitigating its impacts instead of trying in vain to prevent the envitable.

what we need to maintain modern society is to indivdually take responsibility and live sustainabily!

I remember a very nice book called Extinction. It talked about the near future, when people learned how to manipulate weather over the planet trough directed from the Moon sun-light. Well, it ended with killing of every human that was on soil. The only people who survived was those in orbit and many environmental refugees that lived on platforms in the seas. Not very cute picture, trust me...

Excuse me. It had only one fault. It was kind of lousy.
I am from Eritrea and now teach English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "You can make it completely public with all contact information available to employers; you can make it."

Thank 8) Lina.

Jimmy T
on July 13, 2009 9:31 PM

Is it just me, or does this geoengineering kind of remind you of the scorched sky in the Matrix? Anyway, here is an interesting article on the possible effects of geoengineering on our planet: